The Grand Junction Railway Companion to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham/Account
Account.
It will not be considered necessary to go into any detail of the history or progress of the Line, from Liverpool to Manchester and Warrington, as separate works have long since made the public acquainted with everything interesting regarding it. A slight sketch of the various applications to Parliament for power to complete the Grand Junction portion of the line will, however, not be uninteresting, especially as it exhibits the difficulties which invariably attend the promotion of a public good, when opposed to private interest. It is too often to be regretted, that the chief opposition to the efforts of those public-spirited individuals who originate such works, arises from persons whose real interests are not affected, but whose temper or caprice raise up a host of evils which exist only in their perverted imaginations. Men who propose and carry through, without regard to evil or to good report, such works as the Grand Junction Railway—who have overcome, not only the opposition which the stupendous operations of nature present, but the more stubborn and unbending resistance of haughty and interested minds—are far more worthy of the laurel crown than the victor of a hundred fights. The one confers on his country honour and prosperity—crime, devastation, woe, wailing, and death attend the career of the other; which, at the best, ends in the attainment of but equivocal benefits.
In 1823 the project of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad suggested to some gentlemen in Birmingham the idea of a Railroad to connect Lancashire and the north with the south of England. To effect this object. Mr. R. Spooner. Mr. Sparrow, and Mr. Foster came over to Liverpool, and, when there, arranged a Committee of Liverpool and Birmingham gentlemen to carry forward the project; and in 1824 an application was made to Parliament for permission to make a Railroad from the Cheshire side of the Mersey, opposite Liverpool, to Birmingham.
This Bill was most violently opposed by the canal and landed interest, and was lost on standing orders in the House of Commons. In 1826 another application was made, which shared the same fate.
It would appear that, disheartened by the opposition encountered, the Committee relinquished the prosecution of their first project; and all public operations, with a view to effect this national work, lay in abeyance until just before the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Line in 1830. Meetings were then held in Liverpool and Birmingham, and another line proposed.
It was now arranged that the Liverpool Committee should apply for a line from Liverpool to Chorlton, in Cheshire, and the Birmingham Committee for a line from Birmingham to Chorlton. It is not necessary to insert the particulars of the prospectus then issued, suffice it to say that, after a most violent opposition, the bill from Birmingham to Chorlton was ultimately lost.
The bill from Liverpool to Chorlton was but a little more fortunate, for, having passed its first stages, it was lost by the dissolution of Parliament on the Reform question. The great opposition which the Committee had to encounter, in their progress with this bill, was made by the Mersey and Sankey Canal Companies, on the ground that the bridge which it was proposed to erect across the Mersey would impede the navigation of the river: and when we consider the number of persons connected with these companies, the extensive ramifications of their connexions, in addition to the ground of opposition being one purely of theory, and, therefore, more open to debate, we may form some idea of the difficulties the Committee had to contend with. As this opposition was, however, overcome,—as it must be frivolous, though vexatious,—we trust that it will not be repeated when a project of which we have yet to speak comes before Parliament.
In 1831 preparations for applying to Parliament were again made; but the fate of previous attempts, and the opposition threatened, caused the Committee and subscribers to defer further proceedings that year.
In 1832 a meeting was held in Liverpool, John Moss, Esq., in the chair, when it was determined that one bill only, and that from Birmingham to Warrington, from which place there was a Railroad to Liverpool and Manchester, should be applied for; that the shareholders in the two concerns should be invited to unite in one, and the management be transferred to Liverpool. This was ultimately done, and Mr. Rastrick was appointed engineer for the Birmingham, and Mr. Stephenson for the Liverpool end of the proposed line; and a bill to effect this project was, after some short time, prepared for Parliament.
The whole management of the concern had, however, fallen into the hands of Liverpool gentlemen, who had had experience in the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, both in obtaining the Acts of Parliament, and making a railroad. To the experience of these gentlemen in the latter object are the subscribers indebted for the extraordinary fact, that the 82½ miles of their line (which is accomplished with a degree of solidity and finish at present unrivalled) have cost them but about £1,500,000, while the works on the Liverpool line, which is but 31 miles, have cost two-thirds, or perhaps more, of the same amount; an expenditure, be it recollected, not recklessly or carelessly incurred, but one which was necessary to obtain the experience and information which will now enable others to execute similar works at so great a reduction of cost. Every railroad company which may in future exist is infinitely indebted to the Liverpool and Manchester Company; and if the feelings and principles which regulate the actions of individuals towards each other, when their own affairs alone are concerned, could be brought to bear upon their operations when incorporated in public bodies, committees, boards, &c., &c., the proprietors of every railroad would contribute handsomely to a compensation fund, to repay some of the enormous expense incurred, in their experimental outlay, by the shareholders of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad; for, as their intelligent and talented secretary observes, in his able pamphlet, "In matters of detail, no less than in the grand outline and structure of their work, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company have found, that on them has devolved the task of making experiments for the rest of the world."[1] Alas! I fear this act of justice will never be accomplished. There is no chivalry in "Companies."
The anxiety of the gentlemen into whose hands the prosecution of the project had now been consigned was, to conciliate and do away with the opposition of the landed and canal interests; this they were most successful in accomplishing, and that too with a very small sacrifice of money, as compensation for ideal and real injury to landed proprietors; and the bill for making the Railroad from Birmingham to Warrington obtained the royal assent on 6th May, 1833, after having experienced a phenomenon in the history of railroads, the like of which never has been seen, and, probably, never will be seen again—the bill having passed both Houses of Parliament almost unopposed, without putting the Company to the expense of a single fee to counsel. The conducting of the case was left entirely to Mr. Swift, of Liverpool, the solicitor for the bill, who thought it prudent to retain counsel, in case of opposition, but the briefs were never delivered. The directors aided Mr. Swift in the removal of difficulties, by personal applications to all parties who felt themselves injured, or likely to be so; and thus, by tact, prudence, and perseverance, brought the projected bill through Parliament.
In 1834 an amended bill was obtained, to alter the line through Staffordshire, and another to purchase the Warrington and Newton Rail. road, which is now, therefore, the property of the Grand Junction Railway Company. At the commencement of the present year, 1837, notice was given for a bill to alter the line to Liverpool, by forming a Railroad from Daresbury, in Cheshire. It is proposed to carry it over the Mersey and Irwell Canal, and to cross the river Mersey at Fiddler's Ferry; from thence to proceed near Penketh Lodge to Rain Hill Stoops, and, leaving the grounds of Halstead a little to the south-west, join the Liverpool and Manchester Line at the bottom of the Whiston inclined plane. Thus six miles will be saved, and three inclined planes will be avoided, a most desirable object, for, independent of the time saved, the prodigal waste of steam power which is caused by these inclines will be unnecessary.
We have before stated the names of the two eminent engineers who drew the original plan of the Railroad, as carried through Parliament in 1833. It devolved, however, on Mr. Locke, to carry their plans into operation, and to make such alterations as circumstances suggested as improvements. To this gentleman belongs the honour of completing this stupendous work, within a few days of the time calculated on; and too much credit cannot be conferred on him, and the contractors, for the masterly manner in which it has been accomplished, and the punctuality with which it has been completed. The directors never calculated on opening the line until June, 1837, and on the 4th of July they received the first sum for the carriage of passengers.
The opening of this national undertaking was unattended by any display. This did not arise from apathy on the part of the public, as the thousands that waited at many of the stations for the arrival of the first trains which passed along the line fully testified; but out of respect to the memory of the late Mr. Huskisson, who met with the fatal accident which caused his death at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Line. The chairman, John Moss, Esq., and deputy chairman, Charles Lawrence, Esq., having been present at that melancholy event, requested, on this account, that a public opening should be dispensed with; and we are happy in finding that this sensitive propriety of feeling-this respect for the memory of the deceased, was responded to in the breasts of their brother directors.
On the 3d of July the directors, the secretary, and some of their friends, rode along the whole line, to inspect the works, and returned on the 4th; having discharged their duty to the public, and paid a marked tribute of respect to the great man whose name will ever be so lamentably associated with the history of railroads in this country.
We have thus traced this great work from its earliest projection unto its completion. In collecting information, we have made frequent inquiries, and find that the work has been finished with fewer accidents than usually attend such great undertakings; this must be equally gratifying to the directors and to the public.
We shall now give an account of such objects as we have deemed specially worthy of notice on the line. Some of the seats of the nobility and gentry are opposite a portion of the Railroad which passes through a cutting; it is, however, not the less interesting to the intelligent traveller, to be aware that he is passing through a country which affords scope for such establishments; and as we have made the mile-posts the point from which to direct the attention, there will be no difficulty in imparting the information.
The towns in the vicinity of the Railroad form an important feature in its statistics, as some calculation of the probable success of such undertakings may be made, from a knowledge of their population and employments; as the moral character of a people may in some measure be determined by the number of their churches and institutions; to these, therefore, we have paid particular attention.
- ↑ I cannot lose the opportunity of recommending all persons who are interested in railroads to read this pamphlet; for, in addition to the most elaborate details, it contains a most popular and easy-to-be-understood illustration of the mechanical principles applicable to railways. (See "An Account of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, by Henry Booth, Esq.")